Lettering device



Aug.4 11, 1 970 D.I N, MARTINDALE 3,523,369 l -LETTERING DEVICE Filed Nov.` 4. 1968 2 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTOR DonazdNezsonMa/wldaze ATTGRNEYS ug- 11 1970 i D. N. MARTINDALE 3,523,369

LETTERING DEVICE Filed Nov. 4; 196e 2 sheets-sheet 2 L INVENTOR onaldNeLson Mcu'zdcrle United States Patent Office 3,523,369' Patented Aug. 1l, 1970 3,523,369 LETTERING DEVICE Donald N. Martindale, Elsmere, Del. (72 Pleasant Centre,

The template of a conventional lettering guide is held in a device which permits the template to be pivoted about a pivot point on an adjustable radius such that the template is tangential to a circular line of characters. The template may be held in either of two positions such that the circular line of characters are either concave or convex.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a lettering device, and, more particularly, to a lettering guide template holder which permits lettering on a circular path.

Lettering devices and guides have been known for many years. Among those which are particularly known are those available from the Keuifel & Esser Company, Hoboken, NJ., sold under the Le Roy trademark. Lettering devices usually include a scribing device which is the writing instrument and a template containing character grooves which the scribing device follows in forming the characters on the writing surface. Devices of this type are described for example in U.S. Patents Nos. 2,050,057 and 2,050,058 issued to Adolph W. Keuffel on Aug. 4, 1936. Another prior art lettering device is de- 3 scribed in U.S. Pat. 2,507,045 issued May 9, 1950 to Lewis F. Parr. Whatever the devices employed, they find extensive use by draftsmen and others who have the need for doing accurate, neat and precise lettering.

In most of these prior art lettering guides, the template is placed along a straight edge such as a T-square and the letters or characters formed in successive parallel lines following the line of the T-square or other supporting straight edge. A problem arises when such draftsman wishes to letter in a more artistic manner such as is required in some design work wherein the letters are to follow an arc or the entire circumference of a circle. Many diplomas, for example, are lettered following a circular pattern of this type. Seals or circular designs also use this type of lettering. When a lettering device is used to form such arcuate patterns, each letter must be individually lined up and lformed, usually without the benefit of adequate support or alignment for the template. It then is encumbent on the draftsman, in effect, to guess at the proper positioning of the template following perhaps a pencilled circular arc drawn with a compass.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an attachment for use with lettering guides which is capable of following circular lines of characters.

Another object of this invention is to provide an i-mproved more versatile lettering guide.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED yEMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In a preferred embodiment of this invention a scribing guide is adapted for use with a lettering template and scribing device to form an arcuate line of characters on a writing surface. The scribing guide includes an elongated guide member adapted to position the lettering template and a pivot member adjustable longitudinally along the guide member and having a pivot point adapted to pivotally engage the Writing surface. This permits the guide member and hence the template to be positioned tangentially along arcuate or circular lines to form characters along such line. The template may be mounted in the guide member to form circular lines of characters which are either concave upward or concave downward. The circular lines of characters may have different radiis by adjustment of the position of the pivot member along the guide member. A slider positioned on the elongated guide member contains indicia which compensate for the differences in letter sizes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. l is a pictorial View of a scribing guide constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention showing the lettering template in phantom;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the scribing guide illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the scribing guide illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the guide member taken through the section lines 4 4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial pictorial view of the scribing guide illustrating the manner in which the scribing devices tracer pin follows the character grooves in the template; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational View of the slidable member, part of which is shown in cross section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As may be seen in the several drawings, the scribing guide 30 is adapted to position and hold in it the ternplate 10 of a conventional lettering device. The template 10 in turn is adapted to cooperate with a pen and tracer assembly or scribing guide designated by the numeral 12 (FIGS. 2 and 3). The template 10 and scribing device 12 are well known and may Ibe of the type described in the Keuffel patents referred to hereinbefore. Briefly, the scribing device itself includes a pen 14 or other writing instrument of known type adapted to form characters on a writing surface positioned Ibelow the pen. For the sake of simplicity, the paper is not shown but lmay be considered as the face of the paper upon which the drawing appears. The pen 14 is guided by a tracer pin 16 (FIG. 5) which moves in character grooves 18, generally letters alphabetically arranged, and numerals, in the template 10. The scribing device 12 also has a tail pin 20 (FIG. 2) which follows a horizontal groove 22 formed longitudinally along one edge of the template 10. For circular lettering lines, the template 10 must be maintained in a tangential relationship to the circular line of lettering. In conventional instruments, such tangential relationship is maintained by the draftsmans hand and eye for the most part.

In accordance with this invention, the template 10 is adapted to be held transversely within the elongated guide member 30. In its simplest form, the elongated guide member is fabricated 0f a pair of spaced, parallel, elongated strips 32 which may be formed of any material such as aluminum or a suitable plastic which is not subject to warping or bending. The parallel strips 32 are fastened together at either end as by cross connectors 34, 35 which may be riveted or screwed as by screws 36 to the respective strips 32. In addition, the elongated strips 32 are secured together as by a second connecting member 37 3 at the upper midportion thereof (FIG. 2). Additionally, it may be noted in the drawing that the strips 32 have a reduced width in the portion 4t) between the upper (in the drawing) connecting members 35, 37.

The template is adapted to be positioned with its grooved 22 side positioned adjacent either of these upper connectors or 37. Additionally, in that narrowed portion 40, the elongated strips 32 have a relatively small thickness. This enables the template 10, which rides on the strip portion 40, to be relatively close to the surface of the paper. In an alternative construction, the template may rest directly on the paper and be positioned by the respective connector members 35, 37. In this alternative construction the portion 4t! of strips 32 is raised to t over the template. Each of the upper connector members 35 and 37 has a hinge 44 to provide a retaining flap 46 for the template. The retaining ap 46 has on the under side thereof a small ridge 48 (FIG. 3) which is adapted to fit into and engage the groove 22 of the template so that the template is securely held in place merely by the draftsmans pressing his thumb on that one of the hinged flaps 46 in use.

The midportions of the spacers are bent to form a short raised portion 41 (FIG. l) in the region in which the circular line of characters 50 are formed on the paper. This is done since the ink would smear if the strips were moved directly across the characters 50 prior to its drying. In the alternative, small dimples may be formed in the lower portion of the strips 40 such that they are raised just olf the surface of the paper to prevent wiping or smearing of the wet ink.

A slidable pivot member 60, which may be formed of an elongated strip material similar to that employed for the outer strips 32, is adapted to slide longitudinally between the two strips 32. This is accomplished by a tongue and groove arrangement 62-64 seen perhaps most clearly in FIG. 4.

The slidable pivot member thus is provided with side tongues 62 and the corresponding mating surfaces of the strips 32 are provided with grooves 64. Other sliding arrangements may be used if desired. In any event, that end of the slidable pivot member 60 adjacent the area in which the characters 50 are formed is provided with a pivot point or pin -66 which may be threaded so as to be mountable within the slidable pivot member 60 as by a screw mounting. This pin 66 is adapted to pierce the writing surface and thereby x the position of the scribing guide 30 and permit the entire scribing guide 30 including the lettering template to pivot about this pivot formed by the pin 66. Since the lettering template 10 is held transversely with respect to the scribing guide, it is always positioned perpendicularly to a radius of the circular line of characters 50. The letters 50 so formed are hence always upright with respect to the circular line.

Also attached to the slidable member 60 is an indicating slider 70, which may be somewhat similar to the slider of a slide rule. In this instance, the slider 70 is U-shaped to fit over the top surface of both the strips 32 and the sliding member 60. The ends of the U themselves are bent inwardly at 72 as seen most clearly in FIG. 4 to engage edge grooves 74 formed in the outside edges of the elongated strips 32. In this manner the slider 70 may be moved along most of the length of the slider strips 32 between the connecting members 34-37. Preferably, the slider 70 is formed of some transparent material such as a clear plastic and is xedly secured to move longitudinally with said slidable member 60 as by a screw 76. A second threaded bolt 78 is xedly secured to the slidable member 60 and projects upwardly in the drawing through a hole in the slider '70. This supplements the function of the screw 76. In addition, a knurled nut 80 is positioned on the bolt 78 such that when the nut 80 is tightened down, the movable slider 70 is squeezed against the edge strips 32 so that longitudinal movement of the sliding member 60 is arrested. A marker line 92 is formed in the slider 70 to provide a means of indicating the longitudinal position of the sliding member 60 with respect to the edge strips 32 and hence the writing position of the scribing pen 14. One or Iboth of the edge strips 32 is provided with a scale 94 along its upper surface. The graduations of the scale 94 are measured with respect to the normal position at which letters are formed by the particular scriber 12 that is to be used and indicate the distance between a tangent to the circular line of letters 50 and the pivot 66 which forms the center of curvature of the circular lettering line.

Thus, with the template 10 positioned under the lower flap 46 (FIG. 2) circular lines of upright letters 50 which are concave downward (or convex) can be formed on any desired radius up to the limit of the instrument. If one desires the radius of the circular lettering line to be 2 inches, one merely moves the slidable member 60 so the index line 92 of the slider 70 is on the two-inch graduation 94 and locks the knurled nut 78. The template 10 is placed under the lower flap 46 such that the flaps locking ridge 48 engages the horizontal groove 22 of the template 10. The circular line of letters 50 can now be formed on the writing surface in a conventional manner at a point two inches above the position of the pivot point 66 shown in phantom outline in FIGS. 2 and 3. The lettering is formed in a conventional manner merely by insuring that the pivot point 66 remains engaged with the Writing surface in much the same manner as a circle is drawn with a conventional compass. As one progresses around the circular line of letters 50, the scribing guide is merely rotated to accommodate the successive character positions. The raised portions 41 of the narrow strips 40 prevent smearing of the ink. To letter along an arc having a different radius, one need only adjust the position of the slidable member 60.

If one wishes to form a circular line of letters which are concave upward the template 10 is placed in the upper ap 46. In this instance the scribing guide 30` is normally turned upside down from the position shown in FIG. 2, i.e., with the raised strips 41 pointing downwardly in the drawing. If one merely places the template under the upper ap, the characters formed will be upside down as illustrated at 51. The formation of characters may take place around a complete circle.

Different sized templates typically contain different sized character guides adapted to form characters having different heights. To compensate for these differences in height, the index line 92 in the slider 70 can no longer be used. Instead, a graduated index, as exemplified by the lines 95, is used. The measurement here is such that the distance from the pivot pin 66 to the base of the circular lettering line will be that indicated by the graduations 95. The numbers 240, 200, 175, 140, etc., illustrated for the several graduations 95 correspond todifferent sized or numbered templates as are available from the Keuffel & Esser Company in their Le Roy lettering set. Thus, for the lettering template 10 of the numbered size 175, that one of the graduations bearing the number is lined up with the scale 94 to the desired radius of the circular lettering line 50.

In alternative embodiments of the invention, the flaps 46 may be spring loaded or even locked in position by any suitable means so that the lettering guides are retained in position without being held by the draftsman. Also, the narrow strips 41 and upper connecting member 35 may be omitted if lettering in one sense only is to be done.

There has thus been described an eflicient scribing guide which is capable of forming mechanically guided characters having a circular character line. The character line may be formed to be either concave upward or concave downward thereby providing a great degree of versatility. The scribing guide itself is relatively simple to construct and finds great use with most of the lettering sets that are currently -available commercially.

It will be obvious that various modifications may be made in the apparatus and in the manner of operating it.

It is intended to cover such modilications and changes as would occur to those skilled in the art, as far as the following claims permit and as far as consistent with the state of the prior art.

What is claimed is:

1. A scribing guide adapted for use with a template having character grooves and a scribing device adapted to cooperate with said template character grooves to form characters on a writing surface comprising, in combination:

an elongated guide member adapted to position said template,

a pivot member adjustable longitudinally of said guide member and adapted to engage said writing surface and to pivot thereon, thereby to permit said guide member and hence said template to be positioned along a circular line on said Writing surface which is to receive a circular line of characters,

said guide member including a latch member adapted to be operated under nger pressure to releasably secure said template to said guide member which latch member comprises a hinged piece having a tongue portion on the underside adapted to releasably engage a mating groove of said template.

2. A scribing guide adapted for use with a template having character grooves and a scribing device adapted to cooperate with said template character grooves to form characters on a writing surface comprising, in combination:

an elongated guide member adapted to position said template,

a pivot member adjustable longitudinally of said guide member and adapted to engage said writing surface and to pivot thereon, thereby to permit said guide member and hence said template to be positioned along a circular line on said writing surface which is to receive a circular line of characters,

said guide member including a latch member adapted to be operated under finger pressure to releasably secure said template to said guide member, and

a pair of elongated strips iixedly disposed in parallel relationship and adapted to receive transversely said template, a portion of each of said strips being raised to avoid contact with said characters formed on said writing surface.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 which also includes latch members disposed at two different points along said strips in facing relationship, thereby to releasably position said template to said guide member alternatively in both upright and inverted relation to said line of characters.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein a portion of said strips other than said template receiving portion is grooved to slidably receive said pivot member.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said slider member includes indicia graduated to compensate for differing character sizes when said characters are formed on a concave baseline arc.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 637,263 11/1899 Jacobs. 2,389,303 11/ 1945 Forslund 33--75 2,482,743 9/ 1949 Chanfrau.

HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner 

